The True Meaning of Intimidation

The departure of more than a thousand people had no effect whatsoever on Liu Bei's main force. The army continued forward at its original pace.

Throughout Qi Commandery and even Qingzhou, it had been years since any properly organized army had passed through, let alone one carrying so much baggage and supplies.

For these impoverished Yellow Turban bandits living in a lawless state, not attempting to rob such an army would practically be letting themselves down.

However, an army of more than ten thousand men was no push-over. These Yellow Turban bandits were accustomed to dealing with government troops and knew that, given their own fighting strength, they would need several times their number to have any confidence of defeating a regular army of ten thousand.

Thus, along the way, these Yellow Turban bandits would send out at least thirty to fifty thousand men. At most, several groups would join forces and gather eighty to a hundred thousand people to launch an attack.

Qingzhou as a whole was practically a den of bandits. Naturally, Wang Xuan did not dare be careless while marching here. He sent scouts ten li ahead, and ten li behind, to the left and right—in every direction. He did not even neglect the area behind them. As a result, every ambush laid by the Yellow Turban bandits was discovered well in advance.

Once an army numbered over ten thousand, it stretched as far as the eye could see. This was even more true of the utterly undisciplined Yellow Turban bandits. They covered the mountains and plains like an all-encompassing tide. Although there were only a little over forty thousand of them, they appeared extremely imposing.

However, this was not enough to frighten Liu Bei and the others, much less the army of ten thousand under their